If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Long before GPUs, any efficiencies you could squeeze out of the CPU translated into algorithmic performance on the display. So really in main stream publishing Michael Abrash pushed the limits of what you could read and learn off the shelf. Any of his Zen book series or his 'Graphics Programming Black Book' are worthy to pick-up.

Lots of techniques and specific information could be gleaned from text files on BBSs and later hanging out in #coders on irc.eff.net; or even just watching the graphic demo scene evolve.

I learned a lot about the fundamentals of graphics/optical mathematics from 'Introduction to Computer Graphics' by Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, Hughes, & Phillips (c) 1990 Addison Wesley.
(Edit: This is an abridged version of the larger original text: 'Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C' by the same set of authors.)

Another book I still pick-up today as a reference is the 'Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards' by Ferraro.

Last edited by eeguru; July 11th, 2018 at 09:47 PM.

"Good engineers keep thick authoritative books on their shelf. Not for their own reference, but to throw at people who ask stupid questions; hoping a small fragment of knowledge will osmotically transfer with each cranial impact." - Me

In all likelihood if you aren't already schooled in graphics programming at any level you'd need to read other stuff before Abrash, and you're right his books are the tweakers go to manuals in terms of performance issues. The above are more about modeling concepts, 3d, rendering, etc. And likely prerequisite material if you want to get that heavy with early graphics cards.